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8180
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4/22/2010
Location
Fenton, MI, USA
Edited Date/Time
10/10/2025 7:10am
Hunter and Jett remind me of the days when we had guys like Wardy, Johnson, Glover, Bailey and Barnett to choose from with the obvious exception that we had 3 or 4 of the world's best at the race at any given year back then when it was 4-man teams. My point being that you know every year that Australia has two of the best if not the 2 best guys in the world loaded in the chamber. I know it could never happen now but imagine if we had the old format where everyone raced 250's one weekend and 450's the next 
I left out Danny Magoo Chandler from my USA list because what he did was the biggest achievement ever imho but he wasn't a perennial choice.
American MXdN Team members in the 80s
Number of appearances in parentheses
* won at least one championship
Chuck Sun *
Danny Laporte *
Johnny O'Mara * (4)
Donnie Hansen *
David Bailey *(5)
Magoo
Jim Gibson
Mark Barnett *
Broc Glover *
Jeff Ward *(7)
Ricky Johnson *(4)
Ron Lechein *(2)
Mike Kiedrowski *(4, 1 appearance in the 80s)
Bob Hannah *(3 , 1 appearance in the 80s)
Jeff Stanton *( 3 , 1 appearance in the 80s)
What an embarrassment of riches we had in the 80s
O'Mara put on one of the most inspired rides in MXdN history, winning the 1986 on a 125cc Honda.
Hannah did pretty good on an otherwise garbage RM125 in 1987, and it was done in complete slop.
Jett and Hunter compare well to the USA in the 80s but Webster is not even close to the USA 125 guys back then.
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I know my analogy is kind of weird but with this 3 man format and Australia having the two best guys on two wheels it isn't going to be easy to stop them in the foreseeable future. I think the USA is a couple short years from being on the struggle bus at this race.
Explain? The USA got second using two people that are verry good but not our best. Sure Tomac will retire butwe still have Sexton Deegan, Cooper, RJ, Plessenger, Kitchen, Hammaker.
the USA run from 1981 was insane, 13 wins in a row never having the same team twice, aussie current 2 in a row is good, but they are a long way off the USA teams from that era,
First off, I finally figured out what I've been trying to say lol. RJ , Bailey and Honda=Jett, Hunter and Honda. Maybe I'm wrong about the team struggling in a couple years. Maybe we will still get the team we were supposed to get this year. Maybe we will get Eli, Chase and Haiden in 2026. Obviously, that would entail Haiden riding the 250 one last time next fall. I just don't see a great 250 guy from the USA coming up capable of getting the result needed in the next couple of years.
He won the USGP the one year as well. For a short time there he was on fire!
It's tough to call, OZ with Jett and Hunter are the favourites for chamberlain trophy in next 5 to 10 years. Then we have group of NED, BEL, USA and FRA. Anyone of those can be second and on a good day challenge the OZ boys for win.
Dutch got Herlings, Hoff and when those guys are done they still have de Wolf, van Erp, Doensen, Valk, Heitink... no shortage of talent there.
Belgium got now the prime of Everts and Coenens, kinda scared what comes after but 4 years ago i was also scared for them not knowing what the twins will turn into.
USA got good outlook with likes of Deegan and Juju in the future. Nothing to worry imho.
The France is kinda the outsider from the top5... weird to say. They still got Vialle, Renaux and Valin or Benistant even if Febvre retires... i'm just not that sold on them... yeah but in years when Paulin looked mediocre and they had to put Christophe Charlier on 250 it didn't look stellar on the paper but they didn't care and won anyway so who knows. 🤷
Would love to see Latvia, Slovenia or "team Leok" to mix it up the front but i can't see any of them as regular podium threat.
O'Mara put on one of the most inspired rides in MXdN history, winning the 1986 on a 125cc Honda
125 cc O'Show's pass of 500 cc world champion Dave Thorpe in the '86 des Nations has got to be the greatest pass in MX history.
Unfairly so, but this reinforces Jodi's reference to Dave and the European champions of the 1980's as novices. LOL.
They ain't novices anymore.
Why you can't compare is that the US during the 1980s run could plug and play a number of different riders (for example, David Bailey coming to replace Donnie Hansen after his injury). If Jett or Hunter have an injury preventing them from competing Australia is hamstrung more than the US was back then.
But you are correct that if Jett and Hunter keep at the current level and other riders don't up their games Australia will be formidable for a good period as long as they can field a strong 250 rider.
Belgium will be the ones taking it to the Aussies in the near future imo.
It wasn't even Moto, but his most exciting win was that SuperBikers race on ABC. Man, that was cool.
Jonny O did great in 86 but Villopoto won both races overall on a 250! That has never been done before.
His career may be considered by some to be average on paper, but his presence was huge, if you saw him race live it was an experience and unforgettable.
I saw him race live once, and in my mind's eye it's total recall - He was a force on a motorcycle. There were 40 open class bikes on the track, but Magoo was the only one riding his factory Honda to the limit for 45 minutes - I can't explain.
And lets not forget this:
Both were legendary performances, but a 250f is a lot closer in speed to the bigger bikes than a 125 ever was.
The one that usually gets forgotten in these conversations is Lamson’s outright race win on the 125. That’s simply amazing imo.
So true. I saw him ride in 1985 (I think) when he came to do the GPs and raced the British Champs. Our moronic ACU made him qualify for the main races through the support champs for the first few races and I saw him in these at Wakes Colne. He would holeshot, pull away then showboat for the crowd. There was a downhill jump that he was landing twice as far as anyone else while styling it, and his speed was insane.
People were getting their coffees etc during the main races then coming to the track to watch Magoo in the support races. We had never seen anything like it.
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